Black Boys, Seen Differently

A post on the Washington Post blog “Black Boys: We See Them Differently,” The Root, by Robert E. Pierre summarized the recent findings of a study by the Yale University Child Study Center that found that black boys are viewed differently in schools. As a matter of fact, he cites statistics that show that “black students in state-funded pre-kindergartens were twice as likely to be expelled than Latino and white children. Focus only on black boys and the expulsion rates were three times the rate of white children.” Columnist, Donna St. George, penned an article “In Washington Area, African American Students…” about an analysis of the school suspension rates among black students and other demographic groups in the Washington, D. C. area. She found that, overall, “black students are suspended and expelled two to five times as often as white students.”

This should come as no surprise to most parents, and this outcome is mirrored all over the country, and it has been that way for a long time. However, schools have tried new approaches to the contributing factors that might involve: “unintended bias, unequal access to highly effective teachers and differences in school leadership styles.” Some school leaders have received training in new techniques and now are having a team of administrators make suspension decisions.